The Best Brahms 2nd concerto player

[brahms_schumann]

Hi,
I am anxious  to know who is the best Brahms 2nd concerto player?
Please vote!!
 

[Kassaa]

I've only heard Gilels's recordings, they are both awesome, although I prefer the one with Jochum over Reiner. Apperantly, Freire's recording is very good too.

[Waldszenen]

Gilels and Arrau are my favourites.

Zimerman's is rather good... Horowitz's is not bad, Brendel's is good, Pollini's is apparently good (never heard it) and Ashkenazy's is lousy.

[lisztisforkids]

Richter ofcourse.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

gilels!!!! i admire richter for the enregy, but musically speaking, i love gilels'.

[jre58591]

zimerman's version is the best, bar none. also, hamelin recorded this concerto recently. this may be pretty good.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

zimerman's version is the best, bar none. also, hamelin recorded this concerto recently. this may be pretty good.

judging zimerman's liszt sonata in bm, i think that his brahms would be great... i haven't heard it yet. (i don't know why i judge it with his liszt, hehehe. like in the liszt, he has the sound and mind to do it well)

[da jake]

Both Gilels recordings are great.

w Jochum - Grandest, best tone ever
w Reiner - most exciting ever

[arensky]

Tough to pick between Gilels Richter and Fleisher, but I finally had to go with Gilels, the one with Reiner. Never heard Katchen, but his solo Brahms is amazing, probably the best.

Barenboim's Brahms' 2nd is very good also.

[walking_encyclopedia]

I'll go with Arensky, i think barenboim's is awesome. only rivalled by richter in my opinion.

however my favorite brahms concerto is the first, with stephen kovacevich.

[sevencircles]

Pollini´s recording proves that he can play very musically as well if he wants to.

Gilels´s is the best I have heard though

[m]

Tough to pick between Gilels Richter and Fleisher, but I finally had to go with Gilels, the one with Reiner. Never heard Katchen, but his solo Brahms is amazing, probably the best.

Barenboim's Brahms' 2nd is very good also.

Ditto with Gilels with Reiner and Richter. I have two versions of Richter--one with Leinsdorf and another with Mutti. They are very different.
Personally, I like Fleisher much more in the 1st Concerto.

As for Barenboim, maybe he finally practived before the recording, or they did miracles of editing, but his live Brahms 2nd I heard was very louzy, as well as many other things. Finally I quit going to his concerts.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

...Katchen, but his solo Brahms is amazing, probably the best.

i agree.

[mikey6]

I've got a dvd of zimerman's Brahms concerto's.  The 2nd is awesome, the 1st is.....different.  He's one of my favourite pianists so it's hard to judge, but it's extremley long drawn, it racks up 26 minutes for the 1st mov. alone.
(by the way, I think the poll needs some serious names added to it - Zimerman, Barenboim, Pollini, Kovacevich, dunno if Hamelin's recorded it, but he's playing it later this year)

[m]

Also, check out Rubinstein late recording with A. Coats.

[krittyot]

new Freire Brahms concerti CD is amazing too.

Probably the best Brahms 1st on record.

[maxy]

Richter is pretty much always good (I heard at least 7 versions)  the one with Mravinsky is most extreme.  The one with Leinsdorf is IMO the least interesting.

Gilels is also great (Jochum and Reiner)

As Krit said right before, the Freire new cd is amazing and just for the Brahms 1, it is worth it for sure.

Pollini live is awesome, can't say I like the studio one...

I also like very much Leonskaja live, she actually makes it sound fun to play.

[ce nedra]

RUBENSTEIN!

[presto agitato]

What about Jeno Jando?

Mi vote goes for Giles for sure

[arensky]

Ditto with Gilels with Reiner and Richter. I have two versions of Richter--one with Leinsdorf and another with Mutti. They are very different.
Personally, I like Fleisher much more in the 1st Concerto.

As for Barenboim, maybe he finally practived before the recording, or they did miracles of editing, but his live Brahms 2nd I heard was very louzy, as well as many other things. Finally I quit going to his concerts.

Barenboim is not usually my favorite either, but his Brahms 2, from the late 70's early 80's with Mehta conducting is excellent. Doesn't sound edited, although it's hard for most of us to tell. You are a professional recording engineer, you can probably hear the splices better than the rest of us. Interesting, when I listen to recordings on my Ipod I can often hear the splices, particularly in pre-digital recordings. Heard one in Fleisher's Wanderer Fantasy, in the last movement, as well as in other recordings, 1st mvt. of Horowitz' Barber Sonata among others. Is this ethical? Subject for another thread.

[steinwaymodeld]

This is very hard, Brahms 2nd is such a versatile and so full of room for interpretation for both pianist and orchestra.

these are the ones i really like

7 different recording of Richter (Mutti, Leinsodorf, Mrvanisky, Kondrashin, Munch, Georgescu, Maazel)
Gilels Reiner and Jochum
Fleisher's
Zimerman
and the new Freire
the young Rubinstein's recording is actually very brilliant
Also the Horowitz's, the ones with Toscanini, it's just insanity with fierce
Koji and Katsaris's recordings are worthy of mentioning among all the other masters.

But overall it has to be the re-mastered Gilels with Reiner (can be found in the great conductor series, Reiner's 2 CD set, which has all kind of goodies in too)
Because it's the most all around outstanding recordings.

But all the others ones have their own greatness in different sections.

sidestory, if Kapell didn't die from the airplane crash, he would have record this very concerto the year after.

[m]

Barenboim is not usually my favorite either, but his Brahms 2, from the late 70's early 80's with Mehta conducting is excellent. Doesn't sound edited, although it's hard for most of us to tell. You are a professional recording engineer, you can probably hear the splices better than the rest of us. Interesting, when I listen to recordings on my Ipod I can often hear the splices, particularly in pre-digital recordings. Heard one in Fleisher's Wanderer Fantasy, in the last movement, as well as in other recordings, 1st mvt. of Horowitz' Barber Sonata among others. Is this ethical? Subject for another thread.

Yeah, I agree. It is unethical to do louzy editing job  .
 
On a computer you can make perfectly seamless splices, with cutting tape on old reel-to-reels it was much harder, and of course there were much less possibilities.
Whenever I have to transfer old master tapes to digital domain for commercial release, usually it is my rutine to re-edit all the splices.

[dansemacabre79]

I watched the Zimerman dvd! It was the first time I actually LISTENED to the concerto properly and I obsessed over it for days.. it is a truly truly AMAZING performance, more so given his age at that time (29? 30?) and I like his interpretation the best.. plus check out those double thirds in the fourth movement, he's a monster.. btw, know where I can get it? I only borrowed it, and it was some weird Chinese label so I can't locate it anywhere now..

Leon Fleisher's rendition with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra is incredible too, and Richter's has lots of character.

[mikey6]

I watched the Zimerman dvd! It was the first time I actually LISTENED to the concerto properly and I obsessed over it for days.. it is a truly truly AMAZING performance, more so given his age at that time (29? 30?) and I like his interpretation the best.. plus check out those double thirds in the fourth movement, he's a monster.. btw, know where I can get it? I only borrowed it, and it was some weird Chinese label so I can't locate it anywhere now..

I got it off ebay, it's a chinese one as well but it's incredibly out of sync.  The supplier sent me another on but it was the same. was yours ok?

[dansemacabre79]

Yeah, it was perfectly fine. Strange.. I borrowed it from a friend who got it in Hong Kong or Taiwan.. seems like the only label that carries it is that strange chinese label! Man I'll do anything to get my hands on that again..

[letters]

DANIEL BARENBOIM

although this is the only version of it i have ever heard... i love it!!

[apion]

I watched the Zimerman dvd! It was the first time I actually LISTENED to the concerto properly and I obsessed over it for days.. it is a truly truly AMAZING performance, more so given his age at that time (29? 30?) and I like his interpretation the best.. plus check out those double thirds in the fourth movement, he's a monster.. btw, know where I can get it? I only borrowed it, and it was some weird Chinese label so I can't locate it anywhere now..

Leon Fleisher's rendition with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra is incredible too, and Richter's has lots of character.

Yep, I have the Zimerman/Bernstein/VPO (DG) on VHS video (not DVD) and it's paired with Brahms' 1st PC.  Its just so awesome; one of my favorite possessions.

Also good with Brahms 2: Gilels, Richter, Fleischer, Katchen.

[jre58591]

Yep, I have the Zimerman/Bernstein/VPO (DG) on VHS video (not DVD) and it's paired with Brahms' 1st PC.  Its just so awesome; one of my favorite possessions.

any idea where i can get that VHS at? amazon.com perhaps?